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ORIGINAL: Escribano My favourite Scotch is from Islay.
Laphroaig is the only Islay malt I'd say I am fairly familiar with. It's a bit on the peaty side for me. Do you put in a few drops of water, the way I've seen some Scots do? I haven't tried it. Or do you knock it back neat, to put hair on your chest?
Full disclosure - I'm from Nova Scotia, and I can get on with just about anything with an alcohol content
Personally, I find the selection totally overwhelming. I haven't been at it long enough to know anything, but my favorites have been a Lagavulin 21yr and an Oban 14yr. I do the few drops of water thing - it does seem to help the flavors to open up.
I kept reading about the Highland Park 14yr when I first stuck my toes in - seemed like a good starting point, although it didn't impress me as much as I expected.
I did a tasting once at Glenora Distillery in Cape Breton - 4 or 5 different kinds. My wife had a taste and decided she was out (love her), so I stepped up and took 5 for the team ... I was doing well trying to note the differences, but at some point I realized that they were all quite lovely and I didn't care to analyze any further
Laphroaig ia the only Islay malt I'd say I am fairly familiar with. It's a bit on the peaty side for me. Do you put in a few drops of water, the way I've seen some Scots do?
I would use a little water. Jura is also a great island. I must tour them all one day
I'm drinking a Bowmore islay single malt 12 years now! Typical taste, quite different than Highland Scotch, but nice!!
One day, Kozz, when you are back from India and I have made loads of money with my innovation (can't talk about it right now), I will treat you to an evening of choice brews In Der Wildermann followed by some snifters in Cafe De Stil.
I'm drinking a Bowmore islay single malt 12 years now! Typical taste, quite different than Highland Scotch, but nice!!
One day, Kozz, when you are back from India and I have made loads of money with my innovation (can't talk about it right now), I will treat you to an evening of choice brews In Der Wildermann followed by some snifters in Cafe De Stil.
Sounds like a plan to me! I'll bring you some dobbele java from a brewery in my small birth town Hulst, and some bhang
Let me know if you need some help with your innovation, a twisted mind counts for two
Whats up with the waterdrops adding? Yesterday I watched a youtube video of a distiller explaing how to snif and taste, and the guy was adding a lot of water?
I wouldn't, but then again I can drink Patrón Añejo tequila neat all night long, when feeling a little flushed.
All about the Añejos! I'll drink it neat out of a snifter as well. I used to manage a restaurant with 200 types of tequila, we had a Herradura Selecion Suprema that was a "Super Añejo" aged 5 years in whiskey barrels. About $250 a bottle our cost, we sold shots for $65. It was deeeeeeeeeelicioso!
In the 1970s-80s period the company I worked for here in Austin had contracts with the U.K. government. I was one of the party that went regularly to England, and when the U.K. customers came to Texas I was often the one to take them just down the road to San Antonio to see the Alamo, the Spanish Governor´s house, the Spanish missions, etc.
But one of the regular performances required of me involved tequila. A regular stop for our customers was the Austin restaurant Green Pastures. It is in an old mansion--linen table cloths, tuxedoed waiters, airs of the Old South, the epitome of gentility and good taste.
Unfortunately, one of my English friends once prevailed upon me to take a shot of tequila in the old time style. The back of the hand is licked at the base of the thumb. Salt is applied to the moistened area. Half a lime is grasped in the left hand. A shot glass of tequila is knocked back in one swallow, the salt is licked off the back of the hand, and the half lime is sucked upon.
Presumably this style was developed to kill the taste of cheap tequila. You might like to watch a John Wayne movie to see how it is done.
When I would show up at Green Pastures with our U.K. customers, the waiters, trained in hospitality, would know what would eventually occur. When the performance was demanded, they would provide the materials for the demonstration without turning a hair, or putting their noses any further into the air than they already were.
And when I would show up with my wife and kids, no hint of reference to the tequila stunt was ever made, and they would bring me an after dinner cognac of my favorite brand without being asked.
At home I drink Sauza Conmemorativo, without lime or salt.
RNJ
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Haha, I'm sorry you had to go through that Richard. Reminds me of drunk college girls at Senior Frogs in Rosarito Indeed it's to tame the taste of bad tequilla/mezcal..........
Haha, I'm sorry you had to go through that Richard. Reminds me of drunk college girls at Senior Frogs in Rosarito Indeed it's to tame the taste of bad tequilla/mezcal..........
Actually, the tequila stunt was fun. I'm kind of a showoff.
I spent the whole summer of 1961 with two friends camping out in Mexico. We pretty well covered the country's different ecological zones, and spent a fair amount of time walking around in the high jungle of southern Yucatan and northern Guatemala.
We fell into the habit of keeping a bottle of Jose Cuervo "La Rojeña" handy. This was the cheapest and rawest stuff readily obtainable, at less than a dollar per liter, though it couldn't be had in the jungle. There we descended to some bootleg ron de caña. After two or three weeks of camping, the Jose Cuervo went down quite smoothly, swigged straight from the bottle with no lime or salt.
I smoked at the time. "Alas" cigarettes also suited the outdoor life.
Returning to Texas in September I stopped off at my parents' house in San Antonio. Sitting at the kitchen table while my mother, her sister and the cook were making dinner for a family gathering, I spoke of our exploits. A few seconds after I lit a cigarette I noticed that my mother and aunt were smirking, and the cook was frowning at me, and slightly shaking her head when she saw that I noticed. I had known her since I was a little boy, and was sensitive to her disapproval.
It was then I realized I had been dropping the ashes from my cigarette on the sparkling clean floor, as though I were still in the jungle.
My mother handed me a broom, and laughed as she said, "I was wondering when you would realize you were indoors."
Another week, another bottle, another Isle. This weeks companion is a Talisker, single malt, 10 years from the isle of Skye. Less smokey but more bite!
For sure at least 1 heavily smokey whiskey should be in the cabinet...its different, but worth the moment.
Having worked in a whiskey bar in Edinburgh while I was a student there for a couple of years, I have some thoughts. I'm biased, based on my own heritage and tastes. I am by no means an expert.
- Single malt is where it's at. Single malts from Scotland, in my opinion, are hands-down the best. Anything else isn't nearly as good. Single malts are also purer, thus likely resulting in less of a hangover the next day.
- Folks like the Irish, Canadian, American, and Japanese stuff, but I don't understand why. Personal opinion.
- The year makes a HUGE difference in a line. I like some years from some brands and others from the same line I can't stand. My personal favorites are MacCallan 10yo and Highland Park 12yo. MacCallan 12yo is very popular and easy to find. I think it tastes like crap. Not a huge fan of MacCallan 15, but 18 is really nice and smooth. MacCallan 10 is peaty and smokey; 18 is fruity. Highland Park 15 takes some getting used to, but I like it, too. Not a huge fan of the Laphroaig or Oban lines, but there are some years that I like. I prefer the peaty stuff. Oban has some peaty years.
- I personally stay away from water (and thus, ice). I think it changes the flavor too much. My method for getting used to the flavor is to take a reasonable sip and hold that in my mouth for about 30 seconds. I don't swish like a lot of people do, but instead move it around slowly to get the flavor on my tongue and in my gums and cheeks. Over time, the whiskey tends to numb and that's when I start to feel the flavor. For me, non-single malt whiskeys tend to lose their appeal closer to the 30-second mark, and single-malt whiskeys tend to get better.
My advice is to find what kind of flavors you like, and then find the lines that make those flavors. Again, it varies by year and line, so you need to try a lot.
Saw this thread going without looking into it. Thought now that many brands be mentioned I´d contribute with my preferred make. Who had thought that it would be mentioned already in the first posts? ( Most people shrug shoulders when I ask for it.)
When about largely available I like Jack Daniels.
Never liked scotch like (12yo) Chivas Regal, just too cutting. Better to say "used to like". Havn´t seen anything original and tasty since move to here where alc is prohibited.
To me, the 12-year old Chivas tastes like paint thinner. But chacun à son gout.
At a going away party in the Marshall Islands, the departing individual, a good friend of mine, offered me a drink from a bottle of blue label Johnnie Walker. Not sure how old it's supposed to be, but I remember it being well over $100 for 750 ml.
Putting on my best joke-supercilious tone, I said, "Sorry, Dale. You should know by now I don't drink blended whisky."
Later in the evening I had finished off the Macallan 10-year old I had brought with me. In a somewhat emboldened mood, I tried a shot of the blue label Johnnie Walker. It was great! I said so, and my friend offered me the remaining half bottle, saying he never drank it any more. I took it home.
I ignored the bottle for quite a while, thinking that no doubt my judgment had been impaired. But several weeks later I poured myself a shot. The blue label Johnnie Walker was damn good whisky, quite soft but with a very good flavor, as I remember---however not worth the asking price, in my opinion.
I concur, I would drink it here and there when I worked in restaurants because it was free to me and it was pretty good but I'd never buy a bottle, it's about $130 out here.
I ignored the bottle for quite a while, thinking that no doubt my judgment had been impaired. But several weeks later I poured myself a shot. The blue label Johnny Walker was damn good whisky, quite soft but with a very good flavor, as I remember---however not worth the asking price, in my opinion.
RNJ
Johnny Walker is the only blended that I'll really drink these days. I admit that it's pretty good, especially the Blue. But yeah, not worth the price.
With the red JW tasting not that bad to me, I always thought that was because of my uneducated tongue. Wasn´t it that this brand used to be notorious for being so inferiour?
Always interesting to learn about image and baselessness.
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My favourite Scotch is from Islay. 
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